


Half a Room

by RainbowVigilante



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, none of the characters actually appear, they are only referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 21:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4073716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowVigilante/pseuds/RainbowVigilante
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are two sides to the room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Half a Room

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, a prompt from a college creative writing course. The prompt was to use a character's living space to communicate something about them to the reader.

There are two sides to the room.

One is covered in clutter. The left side of the bed is rumpled and stained. Spots are worn in the stone gray sheets, faded, like someone forgot to color them in. An imprint in the pillow shows that it has been slept on time and time again. The frayed edges of the pillowcase fall laxly against a sturdy wooden headboard. Its deep cherry stain speaks of age.

The dresser is laden with picture frames and lazily tossed clothes. A tan polyester shirt is bunched behind a photo of a young boy and a middle aged man, outside on a sunny day. There are more pictures like this. The man dressed as Santa Claus tossing the boy up in the air. Him holding the boy up on a red bicycle. One, at the far end of the dresser, is of a small bundle being held in the man’s arms. The picture is fuzzy, and the man’s face is turned away from the camera. The gold of the frame matches the six-pointed badge beside it.

Under the bed are mismatched pairs of shoes. They all look vaguely the same, with the same shape and different shades of brown. One shoe is resting on top of a file folder labelled “L. Hale, EVIDENCE”. Cheap printer paper is spilling out and fanning along the worn green carpet.

On the other side of the room, everything is peaceful. The sheets on the right side of the bed are undisturbed. Two pristine pillows are propped up against the headboard, and with their neat corners, they could have come out of a Bed Bath & Beyond catalog. Nothing is faded, or stained. This side is too perfect, almost lonely, like something out of a fairytale.

Next to the bed is a small table, old like the headboard. It is covered in dust and there is nothing on it but a small, silver picture frame and a hairbrush. Inside the frame, there is a photograph. The colors are muted from time and exposure, but you can still see the people in it clearly. The man from the other photos is there, much younger, and he has his arm wrapped around the waist of a young woman. They are laughing. Their cheeks are flushed, their eyes wrinkled at the edges, and they are so obviously, deliriously happy.

The only part of the room not divided is the closet. It is built into the wall opposite the bed. There may have been a door there once, but no longer. Inside the closet are only men’s clothes. T-shirts, drab button downs, and extra khaki pants and tan shirts are sloppily hung on rusting wire hangers. The paint inside is peeling, revealing a pale pink wallpaper with rows of small white flowers. If one were to reach into the back, they would find dry, delicate dresses in pastels and bright yellows. If they were to pull them out, they would be struck by the sweet smell of lilac perfume.

If this person were to open the door and leave the room, they would find a house much more whole, but similarly incomplete. There is a door to the attic that is never unlocked. There is a drawer in the kitchen, full of cookbooks and place settings, that is never opened. There is a coat in the closet that is never worn.


End file.
